IT was a day for double acts when Prince Charles and Camilla toured the world's oldest surviving grand music hall today.

The heir to the throne and his wife watched performances from a variety of acts and learned about restoration work at Wilton's Music Hall in east London.

Actor, musician and writer Simon Callow hosted the performances, featuring Victorian magic from Morgan and West, a cabaret number from Gwyneth Herbert and Frances Ruffelle, and a music hall number from Bob and Barry Cryer.

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Wilton's dates back to the 1850s and in its heyday could seat more than 1,500 people. Rumour has it that the first ever can-can in Britain was performed in the Grade Two Star-listed building and promptly banned.

I'm afraid I'm rather a sucker for these sorts of projects

Prince Charles

In the mid-19th century, classical overtures, opera and operetta, choral, contemporary and folk songs were enormously popular at the hall.

It was built by John Wilton behind his pub The Prince Of Denmark in 1858 in Graces Alley.

Wilton's Music Hall was described then as the "Handsomest Room in Town" and had a sun-burner chandelier with 300 gas jets and 27,000 cut crystals in its mirrored hall.

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Prince Charles jokes with comedian Rory Bremner

It reopened in January 1999 after work was done on the semi-derelict site and has undergone phases of work since that time.

The music hall, used as a Wesleyan mission and then a rag warehouse after its heyday, was saved from the slum clearance schemes of the 1960s by a number of high profile campaigns involving personalities such as Sir John Betjeman and Spike Milligan.

Charles too took a turn on the stage and, like an old pro, had his audience rollling in the aisles when he said he was drawn to the attraction after his first visit in 2006 - "I'm afraid I'm rather a sucker for these sorts of projects."

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The famous hall is rumoured to have been the site where the first can-can in Britain was danced

Despite its then-dilapidated state, he became Wilton's patron and today he returned to see the results of the final £4.5 million restoration phase.

In a short speech, Charles told the audience who included impersonator Rory Bremner and lyricist Sir Tim Rice: "It's been a very special morning and I'm thrilled to have had the chance of meeting at least some of the people involved in putting all of this back together again.

"I know how difficult these projects can be and the frustration of trying to find the money and everything else."

In the famous hall, comic Barry Cryer performed with son Bob in what was dubbed the "Simon Callow Breakfast Show" by Charles after Callow had introduced acts from a bill that could have come from Wilton's heyday.

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Barry Cryer joked afterwards: "We can boast we were in a royal variety show that was over very quickly. I bet Charles and Camilla were thinking, 'This is good, bang, bang, bang'."

Speaking about Wilton's, he added: "It's a hidden treasure that's the cliche, it's just magnificent this place. People can't believe it the first time they come and walk in and I couldn't the first time I came."

When Charles and Camilla first arrived they were greeted by posy girl

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Audience members complimented the Prince's performance on stage

They toured the building and met school children involved with theatre projects from learning music hall songs to making bunting decorations for the attraction.

The heir to the throne joined in with a rendition of Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay, a famous vaudeville song, when a group of school children began singing it.

Summing up the appeal of Wilton's, Simon Callow said: "In itself it's a beautiful, beautiful theatre, so any actor who walks into this place, and theatre maker who doesn't immediately want to do a show here must be dead it's just thrilling."